On December 29, 2024, we skied the lower slopes of Richardson Ridge, accessed through Lake Louise Ski Resort. The snow was great and the scenery was stunning. But the best part was that on a busy Sunday during winter break, when line-ups were growing at the resort, we had the whole place to ourselves.
Starting our day at Lake Louise Ski Resort, we rode the gondola up and then skied down the backside to the Larch Chairlift. We rode up Larch and skied down to where the trail to Skoki Lodge exits the resort area. This is just above the Temple Lodge.
We put the skins on and started up the trail toward Skoki Lodge. The trail is easy to follow. It’s well traveled and marked with occasional red poles.
It was a perfect day for this tour – sunny, not too cold and not windy. I was excited to see the area around Hidden Lake in the winter time. We camped there for a few nights last summer and climbed Ptarmigan Peak, Pika Peak and Mount Richardson. I enjoyed the area so much. It is not too far from the ski resort but to me, it has a remote, wilderness feeling.
Our route is the red line on the map below, recorded using OutMap. The red line starts and ends where the trail exits the run at Lake Louise, above the Temple Lodge.
Our route went below the summer trail, closer to the creek. We continued on this track until we were almost at the footbridge that crosses the creek in the summer. Here we joined the summer trail, a snowmobile track in winter, shortly before it crossed the creek. The footbridge is there for the summer but in the winter, the trail goes across the frozen creek.
After crossing the creek, the trail continues up the valley to Skoki Lodge. We turned left off the trail, and headed toward Mount Richardson. We moved up the valley on the left side of the creek that drains from Hidden Lake.
Trip Report
Signs on the side of the ski run mark the trail to Skoki Lodge. This is where we put skins on and left the ski resort.
Here we are heading up the trail that leads to Skoki Lodge.
The forest is in beautiful winter form, blanketed with snow.
The trail is well-defined and easy to follow. It is marked with occasional red poles stuck in the ground beside the trail.
Soon, we see the trio of mountains we climbed last summer, marked in the photo below. Hidden Lake is, well, hidden, at the top of the valley. We planned to ski the lower slopes of Mount Richardson, behind the treed ridge in the photo below.
I couldn’t resist snapping a photo of the ascent route on Ptarmigan Peak. We climbed it on foot last summer. I would love to climb it on skis. Maybe this spring.
After we turned off the Skoki Lodge trail and started up the valley toward Mount Richardson, we followed an old skin track that meandered across meadows and through the forest.
As we moved up the valley, Dan eventually broke away from the established track and headed up hill, setting his own track.
At the top of the hill, we found a snowy plateau with Richardson Ridge in the distance.
We carried on across the plateau.
At the end of the plateau, we see some mellow slopes, sparsely treed, that look perfect for skiing on this day.
Our first run, marked in the photo below, was not quite steep enough. We moved across the slope for our second run and it was a lot of fun. Steeper and covered with lots of soft, fluffy snow. We liked it so much, we went back up and did it again.
Our second and third runs were a lot of fun!
We decided then to head back to the ski resort. We weren’t sure how long it would take to ski out and we wanted to be sure to catch the chairlift before it shut down for the day. A final run took us down a chute off the plateau toward the creek. Then we turned down the creek and met our uptrack.
From there, we skied out the same track we had skied in, all the way back to the resort. It was pretty smooth and, although we sometimes had to push with our poles and turn sideways to step up short, steep parts, we made good time without having to put the skins back on.
It was a beautiful, fun day and I would definitely go back.
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Have you tried Slackcountry skiing? If so, what is your favourite resort for accessing the backcountry?
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